The Hat hangs it up

The life of a professional cornhole player is not for the faint hearted.

“Playing professional is a very tough life,” said 54-year-old Port Colborne native Berny Portolesi, who retired in August after a two-year and eight-month reign as Canada’s top pro player that saw him become the first pro player inducted into the Canadian Cornhole Federation Hall of Fame this year.

Portolesi would work Monday through Wednesday at his job as an electrician with the District School Board of Niagara and on Thursday he would work at most half a day and then pack in preparation for flying out to far-flung places such as Germany, The Netherlands, Utah, California and Florida later that day.

Upon arriving at his destination (using America as an example), Portolesi would be shuttled to his hotel. After dinner, there would be autograph signings, meet and greets with fans and then he would go wherever sponsors wanted him, whether it was a bar or the American Cornhole League venue.

The competition would start Friday at 8 a.m. and would last 10 to 12 hours Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday.

“You are constantly eating junk food whether at an airport or in the back of a taxi. You are constantly on the go, especially playing in Europe. I did the Netherlands, Germany and France twice,” he said. “When you finish playing at midnight, you have to find something to eat and in Europe everything closes at 10 o’clock. It was five days of rushing down the street to a corner store, getting a slice of pizza or a hot dog and sitting on a curb at 1 a.m. and eating. You are still wearing your pro gear and you are soaked. Then you have to go to your hotel room, shower and go to bed for five hours. You get up and you have to meet fans or sponsors and do team events. Then you are playing all day and you have to be the best you can be.”

During the competition, there is no time to eat or drink other than protein bars and water.

“Many Sundays, I took the red eye into Toronto and then got shuttled back home. With very little sleep, I went back to work on Monday. On Mondays, you are not really a husband or a dad or anything because after you fight through your day at work, you’re on the couch and you are crashing. You are only a husband and a dad Tuesday and Wednesday and then you are back out.”

The decision to retire from the sport began to germinate when he was playing in a tournament in Palm Springs, Fla., and his wife, Diane, called to tell him the furnace in their St. Catharines home wasn’t working.

“It was sunny and hot and the weather was gorgeous and she calls and it’s winter there, it’s cold and the furnace died. She was upset and rightfully so because that is something I would tend to take care of,” he said. “I realized that at the professional level it is kind of selfish. You are flying all over the world going to elaborate sponsor parties in Vegas and seeing fans and for that moment it is incredible. But you leave all your responsibilities back home.”

The feeling that it was time to retire hit home when he arrived home.

“My wife put her arms around my neck and said ‘I miss you’ and I said “That’s it. Here is the plan. I will drop out of these two, I have to go here and I do that because I am paid to do it, I will gear up for nationals and at the end of nationals, I will walk away.’ And that’s what I did.”

He concluded his career by winning the pro singles, pro doubles and blind draw (where players are assigned a partner by random draw) at nationals. The trifecta, as it is known, is something he achieved at the provincial championships in 2022 and 2023.

Portolesi leaves the sport without regrets, having met many amazing people along the way who have become his friends.

“I truly worship that aspect.”

It also allowed him to see the world as a competitor on Team Canada and in the American Cornhole League.where the top players earn in excess of $100,000 U.S. a year. Overall tournament prize purses are usually between $60,000 and $80,000 while the Spencer Makenzie tournament in Southern California has a prize purse of $200,000.

“I always get asked but I never disclose how much I made,” he said.

Cornhole players also derive their income by getting paid by the American Cornhole Association and sponsorships. Portolesi had six sponsors, including his main sponsor, Gnarly, who produced his cornhole bags and paid him to throw them.

Thousands of people attend cornhole tournaments across the world and Portolesi describes the crowds as amazing.

“I played for Team Canada and I was fortunate enough to captain the team and go to France at the very first World Cornhole Association World Cup. In Paris, there was a large group of German fans and they knew of me because I played in Germany. They announced my name and I walked out on the TV stage for ESPN Europe and they were chanting my name. With their accents, it sounded more like Barney but it was a weird feeling.”

The game is wildly popular and growing everywhere and Portolesi believe that popularity is because it’s not expensive and anyone can play it.

“The model of the ACL is anyone can play, anyone can win. There are no age, height or sex restrictions and you have no advantage if you are a body builder and are strong or if you are weakling. It does not matter if you are a paraplegic or you have control over all your appendages. If you can throw a bag 27 feet, you can play.”

There are players on the ACL who compete without arms or legs and competitors come in all ages.

“I lost to an eight-year-old. How humbling is that but he is a phenom and he has 10 million followers on social media. I had to play him in Atlantic City and I am walking through a crowd of 50 and I am not sure which one I was playing. It kind of opened up and this little curly-haired kid kinds of walks up and doesn’t say anything. Then two gentlemen walk up. One is his business agent and one is the father.”

The father explained how to interact with the kid and the game started.

“I gave him a little fist bump and said ‘Hey little buddy, good job.’ I am thinking in my head that I have to crush this kid but no, everything I did he went right though it and now I am embarrassed because I am getting smoked by an eight-year-old and the crowd is all people that cheer for him and follow him.”

Portolesi was known as The Hat during his throwing career because of his penchant for wearing a fedora during competition.

“In my family’s history dating back to before my grandfather, the hat symbolizes the head of the family and the gentleman you see when you have a problem because he is someone who can help you with anything. It is an endearment and a sign of respect in the family. Being Italian, it is something we look up to and my father wore the hat. He passed away several years ago and in his last few days we had these really good conversations and he bestowed upon me responsibilities within my family for my mother and sister and I take them very seriously. When I walk into a room, the hat stands out and everyone knows that’s Berny. If they have an issue, they can ask Berny for help.”

The ACL saw him wearing the hat in Canada and created a persona on social media that involved him wearing the hat. It was also featured on his gear.

Portolesi didn’t want to wear it playing because there is a lot of rowdiness at the bigger events and he was worried someone would snatch it off his head.

“I warned them it was nothing to be messed with or made fun of because it meant something to me and my family. Having someone reaching over and take it off my head as a joke would result in a confrontation.”

Nothing happened for the first few years he played but at one event a man thinking he was being funny pulled it off his head. From that moment on, Portolesi switched to wearing a ball cap for the last year of his career.

His career highlights were so many it’s difficult for him to pick one. 

“I am just an old guy from Canada who played for fun and within a short amount of time I found myself in the States walking into a professional, national championship playing against the best players in the world. To win my first game there was amazing.”

Another highlight was the first time his mother, Edith, came to watch him play.

“To play and beat an American champion with your mother present that to me was special.”

In terms of results, winning the pro singles, doubles and blind doubles at this year’s national championships was a rush for Portolesi.

“That was a big cherry on top of the cream and I believe it is what propelled them to vote me into their hall of fame.”

Practise made perfect for Portolesi.

“I would practise three to four hours every day while I was home. While I was away, I would find venues to practise at for four or five hours by myself to warm up before I played in the big games.”

Skill, talent, muscle memory and patience are also required.

“It is a game of chess with only four pieces. Most people look at it that you throw the bags on the board and put them in the hole. That’s ideal but if you and I do that every time, we will play for six hours and nobody will win. So I am going to throw a block and there’s different styles of blocks in how I position the bag.”

There are seven shots in cornhole, including: the slide that goes in; the push where a player pushes another bag in with his; the air mail straight into the hole; the cut from right to left; the cut from left to right; the bag roll where a player throws the bag in such a way that the bag flies backloaded with all the beads on the bottom and rolls over when it lands; and, the bounce bag where the bag is thrown in such a way that it bounces over bags in its way.

“It funny that it’s a game that kids play and then there are all kinds of insane strategy. Some of the best players in the world can throw for more than an hour without missing and it doesn’t matter what you do to try and stop them. They will either go around, over or through.”

Portolesi’s best is 43 perfect rounds (a round consists of throwing four bags) which takes about an hour.

Portolesi got his start in cornhole in the summer of 2021 when a friend asked him to play cornhole during a backyard barbecue.

It was there, his ultra-competitive nature kicked in.

“When I try something competitive or a new game it is not just playing for fun. It’s let see how good I can get and how I can get better and better,” he said. “After you throw a couple of bags, you start trying harder, you watch the wind and I have to throw higher, he is in my way and things like that and that is how it started.”

That afternoon prompted Portolesi and three friends to join a weekly league at Club Roma. That November, with borrowed bags and not really understanding the rules, he competed at a regional tournament in Cambridge and won the competitive singles title in my first ever tournament.

He spent the next month leading up to the provincial championships watching YouTube videos on how to play the game at a highly competitive skill level. He ended up winning the provincial singles title in St. Catharines and was asked to participate in a qualifier where the winner would receive a pro contract to participate in the ACL (American Cornhole League) throughout the U.S. Portolesi ended up winning that as well and not long after found himself in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Casino and Resort playing in his first professional match.